Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges.
Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country.
He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking device.
Two hours later, Ko emerged from the courthouse alongside Chen, TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and Internet personality Holger Chen (陳之漢), where he addressed reporters and about 700 supporters.
Ko began by thanking his supporters for standing by him during the past year, and said that prosecutors had come up empty despite sweeping searches of his home, family, aides and the TPP itself.
“The Democratic Progressive Party could not have dreamed that the TPP would be so clean,” Ko said, referring to Taiwan’s ruling party, which he has said is persecuting him for political reasons.
Ko described his year in incommunicado detention as a period of “suffering,” saying he rarely saw sunlight and had minimal contact with others.
He said the experience gave him time to reflect on his three decades as a surgeon and eight years as Taipei mayor, adding that he had at times been too unyielding and impatient, and could have done better.
Prison also exposed him to “a different side of Taiwanese society,” as he lived alongside inmates facing genuine hardship, including cellmates who “did not have a single dollar to their names,” he said.
“I hope Taiwan can be made better because of us, not torn apart by division, as it has been under [President William] Lai (賴清德),” Ko said, calling the case against him a “miscarriage of justice.”
As he left to board a vehicle, Ko shouted to his supporters that he would “keep working” and “not surrender.”
Ko plans to travel to Hsinchu to visit his mother and decide where to inter the ashes of his father, who died while Ko was in custody, Peggy Chen said.
Ko was detained on Sept. 5 last year and indicted in December on four charges, including allegedly accepting NT$17.1 million in bribes related to a property redevelopment case during his tenure as Taipei mayor, as well as embezzling political donations from his presidential campaign last year.
Prosecutors are seeking a combined sentence of 28-and-a-half years. Ko has denied guilt throughout the investigation and his ongoing trial.
Ten others were also indicted in the two anti-corruption cases, including former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲), Taipei City Councilor Ying Hsiao-wei (應曉薇), Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗), finance chief of Ko’s presidential campaign office, and Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), founder and chairman of real-estate conglomerate Core Pacific Group (威京集團). Ying was released on Friday on NT$30 million bail.
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